8/3/2019 The Boy Has Been Crying Wolf Many Times

1/3

The Boy Has Been Crying Wolf Many Times

By Saneitha Nagani

When Daw Suu was asked what does political integrity means to her, she replied by saying

that, Political integrity means just plain honesty in politics. One of the most important things is neverto deceive the people. Any politician who deceives the people either for the sake of his party or

because he imagines its forthe sake of the people, is lacking in political integrity. I am confident

that she will put honesty as being one of the highest characteristics that she expects from anyone

with whom she is dealing with. I am sure that she will be the first person to know when someone is

lying or not being honest with her.

According to some news reports, Daw Suu although probably sceptical at first, has been extremely

positive since she has had her cordial meeting with President U Thein Sein in Naypyidaw in August. I

am sure that she has her reasons to be optimistic too, but I do sincerely hope that she would not ended

up being dealing with the boy that has been crying wolf again this time around. We must be also

reminded of the fact that this was not the first time that she has met with the leaders in the military

regime. The first time when they had the talks the late foreign minister U Win Aung said, We are not

playing games for the sake of the media... this is not a public relations stunt. This is for the sake of the

people of Myanmar .. if we played games we might have done so a long time ago. Then again in

January 2002 Daw Suu for the first time met Senior General Than Shwe. It was reported in the media

as, It appears to be the first meeting with a senior general for some time as is being seen as a sign

that the dialogue process may be on the verge of a significant break-through.

Expectations were raised only to be left disappointment, not just once but many timeseven the

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry might not even remember. Both Daw Suu and President

U Thein Sein have not been releasing much about what was discussed during the talks. To use theanalogy of the father in a story telling his son not to mention to anyone about the dragon they saw in

the jungle while they were out hunting. Both the father and the son may have seen the dragon which

flew away right in front of their eyes but there was nothing to prove. There was no dragon around for

them to show that such a thing has occurred. Daw Suu, like the father, might be cautious this time and

she might want some concrete evidence like the father in the story who has the deer shot by an arrow

in all three areasthe hind leg, the ear and the deers head skewered by the arrow. The father has

shot the deer right at the instant when the deer was scratching his ears with its hind leg. Daw Suu

needs something more concrete than just the talks. Not all political prisoners have been released, the

fighting between the government troops and the ethnic forces has not stopped, the laws amending the

Political Party Registration has passed but she may need something more concrete to say that things in

Burma have changed.

When the significant break-through we have hoped for failed to materialise when Daw Suu had her

talks with the most senior general in the regime it was not from hope to audacity but rather

something like even though we have prayed a lot we do not have hope in our hearts; but only soap in

our arsebecause weve bathe a lot. Are we justified to expect more out of this talks with the number

(which Rick Perry was unable to recall) three man in the regime? The question which I often asked

myself is, What about the elephants that is not in the room? Daw Suu was said to have requested

President U Thein Sein for a face-to-face meeting with both Senior General Than Shwe and General

Maung Aye, so far no such meeting has taken place. Unless and until such time that these two

elephants came out of their retirement and say publicly that they are no longer the power pulling the

8/3/2019 The Boy Has Been Crying Wolf Many Times

2/3

strings from behind the scenes then we can be sure that there is the reason for the boy crying to be

crying wolf this time. If not, Daw Suu could end up caught in their double-bind.

This does reminded me of the story my father told me. It goes like this, Once a man with his scheme

to get a big cooking pot from his neighbour borrowed one. But when returning the pot he included a

small one as well. When asked by his neighbour why the two pots, he explained to his neighbour thatthe big pot must have been pregnant when he borrowed it and it gave birth to a small pot while it was

with him, thus a small baby pot for his neighbour. Blinded by greed the neighbour did not seem to

realise the absurdity of the mans logic. So, he kept the small pot and thanked the man. Then the man

borrowed the big pot again. This time has passed and the neighbour did not get the pot he lent and

asked the borrower why. The man simply replied that the pot has died. The owner of the pot was

furious with the absurdity of his friends claim only to be told that if he accepted that a pot could gave

birth then it would be logical that it could die as well? He realised that he has been cheated but it was

too late. Maybe we just have to take the risk and have some faith in the saying of the former President

of the United States Abraham Lincoln that, You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of

the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.

I just hope that Daw Suu would be much better at judging the character of the people she is dealing

with. For us, looking from the sidelines, we remained unconvinced in many respects. There is no

denial that some changes have taken place. The President himself extended an invitation for exiles

living abroad to return home, pensioners got paid somewhat decent than they were before, less

censorship and more media freedom, new labour laws and legalised labour unions, the released of a

few hundred political prisoners out of many thousands, and probably the most significant of them all

must have been the suspension of the unpopular China-funded dam project in the Myitsone area of the

Irrawaddy. In spite of all these changes there still remains in the back of my mind the nagging feeling

that, Is this for real, is there a real wolf this time or the boy is just crying wolf again?

Looking back on hindsight I am thankful that my parents were very strict with us when it comes to

telling the truth and not telling lies. Even what we called a white or innocent lie was not tolerated.

Their reason being that we will not always be children and if we were to grow up into decent humans

that it is important that we are truthful not only to ourselves but to others as well. We must stake our

lives on being truthful at all times if we are to be taken seriously. They were right and I have to be

thankful for them bringing us up in their values. For them, the power of telling the truth was

everything. Oh what a tangled web that Daw Suu has to clean up.

Like Hume we can safely assume that honesty is the best policy as a good general rule but it is liable

to many expectations. For a person such as The Sensible Knave who realises that with trust and

mutual co-operation brings great benefits but he also realises that on occasion he can prosper by

deceit without threatening the scheme of mutual co-operation at the same time he cannot prevent

someone taking a free-ride as well. To him, honesty is not the best policy. However, when it comes to

trust, Hobbes like Sayagyi Shwe U Daung, it may be the fear of detection and punishment that makes

a person honest. According to Sayagyi Shwe U Daung the real test of ones moral characterbecomes

crucial when one is either in a crisis or confronted with a moral dilemma. He said it is easy for us to

keep our moral values intact in normal or ordinary circumstances. Likewise the real test of the present

U Thein Seins government accommodating Daw Suu and her party the NLD for the sake of the

country and for national reconciliation will come to the fore only when it has to face the issues such

as justice and impunity, autonomy, selfgovernment of federalism, access and equity and so on.

8/3/2019 The Boy Has Been Crying Wolf Many Times

3/3

Amending the Political Party Registration Laws to allow Daw Suu and her party, the National League

for Democracy (NLD), to contest in the forthcoming by-elections is one thing but without

amendments to the articles and clauses that are controversial in the 2008 Constitution, it could

become more problematic in the long run. For example, if and when Daw Suu as a Parliamentarian

sought some changes in the system of government through normal procedures allowed by the

Parliament but if and when the changes to the law somehow come into conflict with the Constitution

would it be possible? The case that the Constitution, being paramount, will it has to prevail without

amending it? However, if we regard the Constitution as not the source of the paramount law but

merely a means to justify the ends which are favourable to some group and not the others then we

will just have to skirt around the issues that cause conflict. One of the participants in the discussion on

this topic mentioned how absurd it would be South Africa not to abrogate the Constitution which

enshrines apartheid system before moving on.

The fact that having a Constitution is not the same as saying that the government ruling the country is

a Constitutional government. For any government, to be regarded as a Constitution government, in

a classical sense, requires a certain type of Constitution (definitely not the kind that we have in 2008)that limits the powers of political authorities and is not suspect able to easy modification or abrogation

by transient holders of political power. The military, since it came to power in March 1962 has

scrapped not just one but two Constitutionsone drafted and approved by the Parliamentary

democratic government that came into power after independence and the other one drafted by the very

military regime that has given birth to the military junta and the quasi civilian government that we

have now. What guarantees do we have that they are not going to ditched this one that easily too,

none! If the military (if not the whole institution but the ta-mat-tha (twenty five cents in a kyat is

called ta-mat) 25 percent of the seats they have in the Parliament, the politicians and the

Parliamentarians all agreed in unison agreement that this Constitution should not be a source of

paramount law but anther piece of paper then who will stopped us from singing like Frank Sinatra,

The records show, I took the blows and I did it my way. We have done it with Socialism; then

we done it again with disciplined democracy; who can to stop us now from doing what we want

with the Constitution now? Like the tried and true creed that the US President Obama used when he

was campaigning, Yes we can! END